18 Absolutely Fabulous Things about Living in France

Greetings dear readers and friends! Well, as an expat, I think we all go through highs and lows when we live abroad. I can go for months desperately craving all the American things I miss back home (mainly tacos, shopping at Target, and anything with pumpkin-spice) and I’d just die to go to a French dinner party and give everyone a big, messy American hug. Silly stuff in the end, stuff you thought you’d never miss but instead becomes such a part of your “American-ness” (or British-ness, etc).

And then, at other times, you’re simply buzzing with happiness with the place you now call home. Call it the late-summer sunshine, all of the great festivals taking place in September, or finally “getting” a lot of what I previously missed about the French language, but I’m really enjoying my time in France at the moment. Plus, I did spend one whole day in Paris in August, ate really amazing tacos , spent 2 hours at a huge, all-English bookstore (WH Smith), and then an hour or so posted-up in a Starbucks… with a steaming chai latte. So I certainly got a bit of Americana to last me a while.

But back to France and all of the absolutely fabulous things that keep us expats going year after year – here are a few of my favorites:

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1. Cheese, cheese, and more cheese.

How can you have a Best of France list without mentioning cheese? Seven years in, and I’m still amazed at the size of the cheese aisle – make that aisles! They seem to go on forever…

2. Hilltop villages.

I’ve had friends visit from the States and we’ve taken them to the hilltop village of Le Castellet. They almost couldn’t believe how pretty it was – as if we were on a Hollywood set and a perfect, story-tale village had been created just for us. We don’t have anything even close to this in the US, and every time I visit a hilltop village, I’m reminded of what a special place it is.

3. 5-weeks (paid) vacation.

I still haven’t gotten used to this either. I feel a bit like I’m doing something illegal taking so much time off. Thankfully, it’s getting easier and easier each year, that’s the French lifestyle!

4. The smell of fresh-baked bread on a Sunday morning.

Walk through a village on a Sunday morning and catch the smell of fresh bread wafting from the local bakeries – no better form of advertisement, and it’s no wonder those bakeries have lines out the door.

5. Really good, cheap wine.

Whether you buy it at your local winery or your local supermarket, you can get absolutely wonderful wine for a song. We like an organic rosé (recommended by my mother-in-law) that is already inexpensive but was on sale this summer for €4.50 a bottle. €4.50!

6. Festivals of all shapes and sizes.

We love going to food festivals, wine festivals, arts festivals, you name it… And in France, festivals and food go hand-in-hand, so you can expect to find delicious eats wherever. As I mentioned in the last post (about the fig festival), you can get a 4-course meal with wine included for around €30-€35 at many of these events.

7. Everywhere is beautiful.

Our travels around France have taken us to the Dijon region (and the small villages around Burgundy), to Annecy in the Haute-Savoie, Colmar in Alsace, Paris, the Lorraine where my husband is from, Corsica (an absolute dream!), Beaujolais, and of course, the South of France. I’ve yet to find an “ugly” corner of France. Quite the contrary, the country seems to be loaded with beautiful spots. Of course, some parts of major cities are less than desirable, but on the whole, France is one gorgeous country.

8. Healthcare.

There are some bumps and hiccups in the system, and yes, we do pay for it with our taxes, but the healthcare system in France is great.

9. Long, weekend lunches.

Spending half the day eating (& drinking a bit) in good company is one of the absolute joys of living in France.

10. Fresh and inexpensive fruits and vegetables.

This could go right at the top of the list for me. The quality of the fruits and vegetables in France, the ones you find at the outdoor markets, is exceptional. You might have to visit a few stands to find exactly what you’re looking for, but once you hit on the right one, it’s golden. I went to the same stand over and over (to buy nectarines) this past summer at the Toulon market. It’s no wonder the French are in such good shape – with fruit so fresh and sweet, who needs dessert?

11. Having the time to cook every day.

This goes hand-in-hand with the fresh veggies, but also with the slow(er) pace of life – especially in the South of France. Even though I work full-time, I still have plenty of time to shop and cook every day and I find real pleasure in it… as I think most French people do.

12. French pastries.

Thank goodness that some French pastries are a bit pricey, otherwise I think I could eat one every day. There are so many great pâtisseries to try in our area (like Béchard in Aix-en-Provence), but we especially love Matyasy – who makes a chocolate pastry called a Caraque with chocolate mousse, almond “cookie”, and a crunchy praline center. One bite and you’ll never want to leave!

13. French cafés.

What a lovely lifestyle, to sit in an elegant French café and watch the world go by – over your favorite café, pastis, or glass of rosé.

14. Doing the “bise”.

At first I thought all of these kissing stuff was totally nonsense, and really time-consuming… You mean I gotta kiss all these folks at this party that I barely know? Well, as much as I was worried, and perhaps a bit intimidated, by doing the classic kiss on both cheeks when greeting someone (as much as 4 kisses in some regions of France!), I now see it as a very polite and quite endearing form of showing someone respect – or how much you care about them.

15. Feeling good at any age.

Go to a beach in France on your vacation and you’ll find women of all shapes, sizes, and ages, wearing two-piece bathing suits and who wouldn’t give 2 winks about what anyone thought of them. And actually, no one would think anything about them at all. About, for example, a 60, 70, or 80-year-old woman enjoying herself on the beach in a bikini. In my humble opinion, this is simply wonderful. Of course men are out there in their Speedos as well, but personally, as a woman, it’s so nice to feel that you don’t have one foot in the grave the minute you turn 40. People of all ages are celebrated here.

16. The Tour de France

Even if you’re not a cycling fan, the Tour de France is one of the highlights of the year. Since the route always changes, you have the chance to see, from the comfort of your sofa, some of the most beautiful scenery from across the country.

17. Family care and bébé stuff.

I had an absolute dream pregnancy and birth in France. Plus I got to stay in the hospital for 5 days. I’ve never had such good care in my whole life. Then I had 4 months of maternity leave, and went back to work part-time for a year. Daycare here is excellent and so inexpensive that I’m almost embarrassed to say how much we pay. There might be other social problems here, but family care in France is, in my opinion, fantastic.

18. Visiting Paris.

Of course this site is all about living in Provence, but goodness, if it isn’t wonderful to take a trip to Paris for a few days. The museums, the cafes, the restaurants, shops, world-class monuments, even the really “touristy” things to do, Paris is the place to be. And now that I discovered you can get excellent tacos all around town, Paris really does have it all.

These are just a few things I’ve been thinking of lately, please feel free to add what you love about France in the comments below.

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Tuula

Welcome to la belle Provence. I’m a 40-ish American woman & I’ve been blogging about the South of France since moving here in 2010. I live outside of a Provençal village in the Var region with my husband and small daughter. I'm a big fan of cooking, French food, and all things rosé. Bienvenue!

Oh my God, such a great and lovely list! You could have done months of posts elaborating on this one! 🙂
I am so much in love with all things French, I wish I could live in France for a year 🙂 Hope soon to move close to the French border and visit it regularly 🙂

Thank you for your comment! France is pretty great… we are lucky to be here. I hope that you do get to come regularly… there’s so much to see and do, not to mention the food and wine 🙂 Hope you’re having a lovely Sunday! Tuula

Sounds like living in France is really luck 🙂 Though there are enough challenges with this too (the French are not the easiest nation, it is said). I am so blindly in love with France that I need more days there to get more realistic about this relationship of mine 🙂 Have a nice Sunday too!

When I first came to France I was really inspired by My Life in France (by Julia Child) – so uplifting and funny! Also, A Year in Provence (Peter Mayle) is the standard for living here I guess, ha ha! He gets village life right on so many levels. This past year I read One Sip at a Time (Keith Van Sickle) who lives part of the year in St. Rémy de Provence… laugh-out-loud funny and he gets French culture perfectly. So many other good books about living in France, those are just a few of my favorites. Have a great day!

Thank you for sharing your favorites! I have read books about ” typical French girl” before, and still feel drawn to the literature about France, but with the expat twist. That makes a perfect list! Though we want to move to Barcelona, but France is so close to it, so it’s time to read and get dreamy about it 🙂

Thanks for your comment Monika, and that must be really interesting (if not a bit tiring I imagine!) working in Germany and living part-time in Provence. I can safely say, you’ve picked a great place to be 🙂 Hope this finds you well, bon dimanche! Tuula

One thing I would add to your list is French People. My wife and I live part of the year in St.-Rémy and we have made lots of friends. We so enjoy our time with them–going to a concert together, sharing long weekend meals, dropping in for a café and a chat. Some of our closest friends are in France and we are very grateful for that.

Thanks for your kind comment Keith, and glad you liked the post! And you are so right… French people are just the best. I wasn’t sure if I would ever say that in the beginning, because it takes a while to get to know them, but I think that’s part of the “magic” of living here… once you’re “in” so to speak, they are some of the nicest and kindest people on the planet. Looking forward to hearing more about your time in St.-Rémy and wishing you a very bon dimanche! Tuula

Loved your list. I have so many favorite places in France–from Brittany to the Côte d’Azure. Curious to know where you found good tacos in Paris. We’ll be there next month and being from Texas and New Mexico, I’d like to sample some just for fun.

Hi Anita, the taco place in Paris is called El Guacamole, near La place de la République. They have 2 other restaurants that are more “high end”, this one is really “street tacos” only. The chicken taco with green salsa was the best one that I tried, you can also get corn or flour tortillas. I went to another one that was even better a few years ago, Candelaria (5-star reviews) but it was more difficult to get to for this last trip. I hope that is helpful, bon voyage!

This is the first time I have seen your delightful blog. Thanks for reminding me of all the reasons I too love France. My contribution to French culture for expats (or anyone wishing to speak more authentic French) is my video course, Mastering French Pronunciation. Your readers might want to check out my website, PronouncingFrench.com Thanks again for your labor of love!

Welcome to la belle Provence. I’m a 40-ish American woman & I’ve been blogging about the South of France since moving here in 2010. I live outside of a Provençal village in the Var region with my husband and small daughter. I'm a big fan of cooking, French food, and all things rosé. Bienvenue!